This Chinese SKS Type 56 by Norinco was made in Factory Code 0224 and is chambered in 7.62x39mm. The serial number puts this in the late 70’s with best guess being 1977. This rifle includes the original import box from Chinasports Inc, manual, plastic oil bottle, suspender style ammo carrier, sling, cleaning kit (in stock), and cleaning rod.

This SKS appears to have all numbers matching. Unfortunately, the bayonet is NOT with the rifle as they were often removed for import regulations.

This rifle is in excellent condition. The stock and hand guard have a very sharp finish with almost no sign of wear. The wood has no splits or cracks and remarkably few dings and scratches.

The finish on the receiver and barrel is very good showing only minor wear. There a few scratches on the magazine but rest of metal parts look scratch free. The inside receiver has cosmoline build up and trigger group is very cosmoline covered. The bolt and bolt face are covered in cosmoline but do not show much if any wear. The bore is good, 3/5, with crisp rifling and a few signs of very minor pitting. The action is smooth and all parts function mechanically as they should. This rifle has NOT been test fired by us.

This Chinese SKS Type 56 is in such excellent condition it may have been factory refinished before export. Given the cosmoline on the bolt, bolt carrier, trigger group, and in the butt stock on the cleaning kit this rifle may have never been fired or minimally fired since arriving in the U.S.

The SKS truly is the ultimate transitional from the World War era to the modern era of rifles. Like in the U.S. with the M14 service rifle, the SKS had a similar implementation, purpose, and rather quick replacement. The Second World War proved that ammo capacity, light weight set-ups, and fire rate were much needed technological advancements for the small arms world. The Russian Red Army had a plethora of full auto and semi auto weapons like the SVT-40 and PPSH-41. However the majority of them and their allies used the bolt action Mosin Nagant rifle. As great as the Mosin Nagant was it was limited to 5 rounds of the heavier 7.62x54R. Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov was the designer of the SKS rifle which stands for Samozaryandy Karabin system Simonova – Simonov’s self loading carbine. Siminov began work in the early 1940s with the SKS-31 (AKA the SKS-41) Only 50 units were produced in 7.62x54R. When the 7.62×39 cartridge was developed the project was revived. The rifle was adopted by the Russian military and eventually for its early Warsaw Pact allies. China was the biggest adopter of the SKS and the longest user of it. At the time 80+ factories in China tooled up for SKS Type-56 production. China made some minor changes in the production process and build of material.

SKS 7.62 X 39 CHINA NORINCO CSI ONT CA (import mark) – left side rear receiver

0224 in Rectangle (factory code) – left side front receiver

3 Chinese Characters (Type 56) – left side receiver

R – left side receiver

22001000 (serial) – left side receiver

1000 – bolt, bolt carrier, magazine, trigger guard, rear receiver cover

01000 – left side butt stock